King Klunk

Here’s a rarity. In 1933, after the release of the classic giant monster film, King Kong, Walter Lantz (of Woody Woodpecker fame) released a parody of the giant-ape-in-love epic. As you’ll see, it follows the bare outline of the plot, adding typical Lantz comic exaggerations. It has been accused of racism in its depiction of the natives, but that strikes me as overly sensitive — it being made in the early ’30s and in the context of a cartoon satire directed not at the natives at all, but at King Kong, the film. Lantz, in fact, has been quoted as saying he thought that Kong was a stupid film, which is why he chose to parody it.

Source: YouTube, but the cartoon is available on the Woody Woodpecker DVD Collection.